Sausage and Pepper Brunch Pizza

Earlier this year, I had a Pampered Chef party at my house.  As a result, I was able to score one of their new items for free!  It's this huge round baking stone that has handles and a little lip so that you can make things like quiches in it.  And I love it!

As part of the party, we made a recipe for Sausage and Pepper Brunch Pizza using the stone.  And I realized I could totally THRIVE-alize that recipe!  So I did!  And we had it for dinner the other night :).  (It was a brinner kind of evening that day...).

It was awesome having many of the ingredients on-hand, thanks to THRIVE Life!  And even more awesome that I could avoid handling raw sausage and raw eggs and the time (and mess) it would otherwise take to brown the sausage!!!  There is a reason THRIVE Sausage Crumbles are one of the most popular items THRIVE Life has to offer!!!

Below is the recipe as I made it.  But it is originally a Pampered Chef recipe and can be found here.

SAUSAGE AND PEPPER BRUNCH PIZZA

1 cup THRIVE Sausage Crumbles
3/4 cup THRIVE Red Bell Peppers (broken in smaller pieces)
1 tablespoon basil*
4 ounces Neufachtel cheese (1/3 of the fat of cream cheese option), softened
6 THRIVE Whole Eggs (6 tablespoons egg powder + 3/4 cup water)
1 16-ounce package refrigerated flaky biscuits (grands size)
4 ounces provolone cheese, shredded
black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place sausage crumbles and red bell pepper in a bowl.  Cover with boiling water and allow to sit and reconstitute.  Drain off excess water (after 5 to 10 minutes).

Separate the flaky biscuits in half so that you have 16 biscuits.  Lay overlapping on round dish and roll or press to cover entire dish (I used a Pampered Chef round baking stone).  Make sure all seems are sealed.  Press some up the sides a bit. 

In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave cream cheese 10 to 15 seconds until very soft and stir-able.  Whisk until smooth.  Add eggs, alternating powder and water, whisking to blend well after each addition. 

Sprinkle half the cheese over the biscuits.  Then sprinkle with the sausage/pepper mixture.  Sprinkle with basil.  Carefully pour egg and cheese mixture over all.  Sprinkle black pepper on top to taste.  Bake in preheated oven 15 to 17 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Definitely delicious!  Definitely easy!  Love having THRIVE on hand to help me with my meals :)!! 

Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website www.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla if you want to know more!

Happy THRIVEing!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Our family loves pancakes.  We have them for breakfast at least once a week.  But sometimes 2 or 3 times a week!  We keep a variety of pancake mixes on hand, just for this reason.  We definitely love the THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix, and we are super-excited about the changes that have been made to it, so it is now among the many non-GMO products THRIVE Life offers! 

And it's on special this month!  The perfect time to stock up!

But that isn't actually the pancake mix I used today.  Today I used a regular store-bought mix and jazzed it up -- a lot!  It wasn't a special celebratory day or anything.  I just felt like trying out some fancy "special" pancakes with the new -- and completely amazing THRIVE Peanut Flour.  I realize I've been posting a lot of recipes recently with the Peanut Flour, but that's because I am simply amazed by the versatility of it; not to mention how easy it is to use and clean!

I would have never thought to add peanut butter to my pancake mix without this great product.  I got the idea, because many people enjoy peanut butter spread on their pancakes.  So I thought, "Why not step it up and put peanut flour in the pancakes!?!"  And it was so easy to do!  I just tossed some in with my other dry ingredients, and oila!

And these were yummy.  So yummy, I didn't even use syrup.  And my toddler snarfed all of hers down.  Quickly.

OATMEAL PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES
2 cups all-inclusive pancake mix*(we used Krusteaz brand)
3/4 cups oats* (I used old-fashioned, but quick would work fine too!)
2 tablespoons THRIVE Peanut Flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 to 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips (this depends on how many chocolate chips you want!)

Add all dry ingredients, except chocolate chips, to a medium-size bowl and whisk together to combine.  Add water and whisk until well-blended.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Pour batter onto prepared skillet or griddle and cook according to pancake mix directions (or to your preferences ;)).

When I make pancakes, they are usually 6 to 7-inches in diameter.  This recipe yielded 5 pancakes that size.

I'm definitely making these again!  So easy, and so yummy!

The Peanut Flour is also on special this month!  It is a perfect time to get some!  Through April, it is $15.09 for a #10 can, which will make a little more than 11 1/4 cups of fresh peanut butter however you like it (you control the salt, sugar, and oil!).  And just for comparison purposes, 2 large jars of JIF peanut butter from Costco are 10 3/4 cups of prepared peanut butter without the ability to control the sugar, salt, and oil  (fat) content!  I can't remember the cost of the peanut butter at Costco right off hand, but I'll make a mental note to check on Tuesday and post it!  But the 5 year unopened shelf life on this peanut flour is a great thing, because it's a lot longer than store-bought peanut butter!!

It's a great time to stock up on some great things with THRIVE Life!  Not only are the 10 Grain Pancake Mix and the Peanut Flour on sale this month, but everything is being discounted for this months BIG DEAL Sale!  It's still going on through April 20th, so if you want to take advantage of the sale and bulk up your home store, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!!!

Happy THRIVEing!

Cooking with the Q-Pon!: 10 Grain Pancake Mix: Sausage Cheese PopUms

THRIVE Life 10 Grain Pancake Mix isn't just for awesomely delicious and healthy pancakes!  I recently used them in Sausage Cheese PopUms -- and were they ever yum!

This recipe can be used as an appetizer, a snack, a lunch, a brunch, and even a breakfast!  Very versatile!!!

I also loved how fast these came together!  I spent 10 minutes hands-on with this recipe -- and most of that was spooning the batter into the mini muffin tins!  Not having to cook meat is a real time-saver!  You can choose to make bigger muffins and it would take less time.  But I chose to follow the recipe and make the mini-muffins.  Just because, sometimes, mini muffins are fun!

I found this recipe on the awesome new THRIVE Life Recipe site, but I made a few change to accommodate what I had on-hand!  Here's the recipe as I made it:

SAUSAGE CHEESE POPUMS
1 cup THRIVE Sausage Crumbles
1 cup hot water
1 cup THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix
3 tablespoons THRIVE Butter Powder (plus 2 tablespoons water)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put THRIVE Sausage Crumbles into a small mixing bowl. Add hot water, stir and let sit 10 minutes.

Put THRIVE 10 Grain Pancake Mix into medium mixing bowl. Add THRIVE Putter Powder plus 2 tablespoons water.  Mix with your hands until crumbly.  Add cheese to mixture and toss to coat. 

Add the sausage AND the water to the pancake mixture and gently stir until moistened. Scoop into well-greased mini muffin pan that has been sprayed with Butter Spray. Bake 18-22 minutes until golden brown and done in the middle (mine took 17 minutes).  Yield: about 28 mini muffins

I took these for lunch at a friend's house and we liked them.  They were moist and delicious.  And super easy!

There's only a couple weeks left to get the 10 Grain Pancake Mix at Q-Pon price!  So contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com to get it! -- or any of the other awesome time-saving foods!

Happy THRIVEing!

THRIVE-Vamped Pancakes!

I mentioned the other day that we had brinner:  breakfast for dinner :).  As part of that meal, I made some THRIVE-Vamped Pancakes!  It was super easy, and I loved that I was getting so much extra goodness in my meal.

So much so that I whipped up a batch of those last night to go with all of our leftovers.  My nieces were over for dinner, so they got some extra whole grain too!

Here's what I did:

2 cups pancake mix  (I used Krusteas because it's all-inclusive)
3 tablespoons THRIVE 9-Grain Cracked Cereal
1 1/2 cups water

Whisk all together and cook pancakes according to package directions (or according to how you usually make pancakes).

This was so easy to do, because all I did was add some pre-mixed grains to my pancake mix and make it a batter!  Perfect for busy mornings too!  And you end up getting hard red wheat, hard white wheat, barley, rye, oats, corn, millet, hulled buckwheat, and flax seed! 

Happy THRIVEing!!!

Raspberry Coffee Cake a la THRIVE

As promised, the rest of the Raspberry Coffee Cake recipe -- with THRIVE!

RASPBERRY COFFEE CAKE

Streusel:
1/4 cup THRIVE Butter Powder (plus +/-1 tablespoon water -- I used leftover raspberry water)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour*
1/4 cup sugar*
Mix together with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Cake:
1 1/4 cup THRIVE raspberries
3 cups water
2 cups all-purpose flour* (we do half whole-wheat, because my husband likes it that way)
3/4 cup sugar*
1/4 cup THRIVE Butter Powder
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk*
2 teaspoons baking powder*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1 egg*

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 11x7 (or 9x9) baking pan.

Place the raspberries in the water and allow to re-hydrate while you are mixing the cake batter.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, THRIVE butter powder, baking powder, and salt. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. The batter should be slightly thick and spread-able.

Spread half the batter in bottom of prepared pan. Place half the raspberries over the batter (you can drain them, but I just scooped them out of the water and put them on the batter -- the extra liquid on the cake doesn't hurt a thing ! Also, the raspberry water is flavorful and full of fruit-nutrients, so you can find a way to use that, too ... I used a small amount in the streusel, but my husband drank the rest). Sprinkle half the streusel over the raspberries. Repeat layers one more time, ending with streusel.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (My oven bakes hot and the cake was done in 35 minutes).  Devour!  (My husband knocked out half of it on his birthday...)

*Denotes ingredients available through THRIVE.

Now, I'm off to enjoy my late-night single-serve brownie and some reading down-time :). 

Happy THRIVEing!